When you think of the country of Georgia, images of rapid modernization might not spring to mind, but it should. Architect Jurgen Mayer-Hermann was invited to Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, in 2004 ‘after the country’s recently elected president, Mikheil Saakashvili, saw his work in a book.’ The results of their meeting? A program of investment in […]

Architectural designer Michael Jantzen, whose vision is to ‘reinvent the built environment in order to extend the reach of consciousness’, admittedly designs structures that are fantastic and surreal. Even more extraordinary is his M-Vironment series of flexible hinged-panel houses, which are not just conceptual, but actually functional. Held together within a main frame, dwellers can […]

Ten years in the making, Iraqi-born architectural phenomenon, Zaha Hadid’s Museum of Art for the XXI Century, or MAXXI, is finally completed. Located in Rome, the museum’s contemporary design is a pleasant and eye-catching addition to the city’s mostly historic feel. Housing contemporary art and architecture, the 26,000 square metre building includes moveable hanging partitions […]

As China’s cities, infrastructure, and economy boomed under the reforms post 1979, Deng Xiaoping insisted that agriculture, industry, and urban areas should all be close together, so that no materials needed to be transported very far.